


paper rings

by beeetle



Series: Preludes [8]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 08:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24467839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeetle/pseuds/beeetle
Summary: paper rings - Taylor Swift, nuts and dolts, modern au"I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings"
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Series: Preludes [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767265
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	paper rings

**Author's Note:**

> heya folks! for those who have read my writing before, this fic might sound familiar. that's because I've decided to take all of the fics from my story 'preludes' and post them individually and make them into a series for easier navigation.  
> thank you so much for reading! please leave kudos and comment, it really helps motivate me to do more writing, and have a lovely day! <3

Yang always joked that Ruby would lose her head if it wasn’t attached to her, but on this particular occasion, Ruby really, really wished her sister was wrong. As she clutched the phone, frantically waiting for Yang to answer, she knew her sister was right.

_ “Yellow?” _

__

“Yang. Hi. Cool. Uhh, did I leave anything there last time I visited?”

_ “Uh, not that I can think of. Hold on, I’ll ask Blake.” _

__

While Ruby waited for a response, she tried her best to scan the wreckage of the room, looking for the one thing she really couldn’t afford to lose (literally and figuratively). The room had been overturned, and resembled the aftermath of a hurricane if the drywall was replaced with clothing. But if it wasn’t here, where else could it be?

_ “Nope, Blake hasn’t seen anything either. Whatcha chasing Rubes?” _

“I lost the thing.”

_ “You lost the what now?” _

__

“The thing! Y’know, the ‘get down on one knee’ thing?”

The silence that followed was deadly.

_ “You’re fucking kidding me. Please tell me you’re joking Ruby.” _

“Dad always said not to lie-”

_ “You lost your girlfriend’s engagement ring?!” _

“Not so loud! Penny’s still home,” Ruby whisper-shouted, beginning to pace back and forth in the bedroom.

_ “Okay, where have you looked? Do I need to get Blake to drag her out of the house so I can come over and help you find it?” _

“Penny’s not dumb, she’s gonna get suspicious!”

_ “So what are you going to do, wait until you find it then propose?” _

“But I need to do it today! It’s our anniversary, and I’m recreating our first date, and I can’t wait for another year to do it.”

Amongst the rambling, she restarted looking through all the mess for any sign of that tiny black box, heart pounding in her chest.

_ “Okay, don’t freak out. I’m gonna head over and help you look for it. Think of an excuse to tell Penny, I’ll be there in 20.” _

All Ruby could do was sigh quietly into the phone. 

“Okay sis. Drive safe please.”

_ “I will. Try and stay calm, we’re going to figure this out. Love you sis.” _

With an ‘I love you too’, Ruby hung up and resisted every urge to peg the phone across the room in frustration. Instead, she tossed it gently onto the bed and flopped face first onto the mattress. Groaning, she flipped onto her back, staring at the ceiling and racking her brain for any possible place that it could be, but each theory reached a dead end.

By all means, Ruby was exceptionally lucky. She got to live out her dream, earning money by streaming video games, and lived in an adorable apartment with the love of her life. Penny was her high-school sweetheart, and the years they had spent together were the best of her life. She bought Penny’s ring with Patreon donations, and had planned everything for what she had hoped would be the perfect proposal.

Apparently, her lack of bad luck all managed to catch up to her in this one moment.

“Where the frickity frack is it?!” she yelled into the mattress, the sound muffled but still audible. 

“Ruby? Is everything alright?”

_ Oh, sugar honey iced tea. _

On any other day, hearing her girlfriend Penny’s voice would ease all of her anxiety, but not today. 

“Yeah! Everything is totally okay!” she called back, trying to keep her voice steady and failing, and the incoming footsteps up the stairs only made her heat race. Leaping off the bed, she haphazardly began throwing the scattered clothes back into the laundry basket, as Penny poked her head around the doorframe.

“Ruby? What are you doing?”

She slowly turned to face Penny, light green eyes blinking with curiosity as she stared at Ruby.

“I’m- uh, just cleaning! Yeah, cleaning, helps clear my mind before a stream,” she tried, giving Penny what she hoped was a convincing smile. The ginger frowned, stepping into the room and walking closer to her girlfriend.

“Ruby, you told me you weren’t streaming today because of our anniversary, and you’ve been distant since breakfast. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

Ruby couldn’t find the words to respond, and her heart only sunk as Penny intertwined their hands. She managed to look into Penny’s eyes, and knew she couldn’t lie to her anymore.

“I just- I wanted to surprise you with something tonight, and it isn’t working out the way I wanted it to,” Ruby admitted. “If anything, it’s gone really, really wrong. And I didn’t wanna tell you because then it was going to ruin it, and-”

“Ruby.”

Penny squeezed her hands, and gave her a tiny smile. “I love you. You showed me what it was like to be loved, for me . These years with you have been the best. Do you really think a surprise that didn’t go right is going to make me love you any less?”

Ruby squeezed her hands, a small grin on her lips as she shook her head. “No. And I love you too, Penny. More than I can even explain, and-”

She paused for a moment, stepping back and still holding onto Penny’s hands. Frick it . Taking a deep breath, Ruby got down onto one knee and smiled up at the woman that had her heart.

“And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I have a ring and everything, and I’ve spent all morning looking for it, but I know you. I know us. I know that if you gave me a paper ring and asked me to marry you, I’d wear that paper ring til it fell apart and love you for the rest of my life.”

Penny giggled like they were back in high school, eyes glassy and smile wide as she looked down at Ruby. Smiling back, Ruby squeezed Penny’s hands. 

“I’ve loved you since we were 18. And I want to love you for forever, and always, and even a little bit after that. So, Penny Polendina, will you marry me?”

With tears streaming down, and with a giant smile on her face, Penny whispered, “Yes.”

“W-Wait, really?”

“Yes!” Penny knelt down and flung her arms around Ruby, holding her tightly and giggling into her collarbone. Ruby held Penny as if she would slip away, but cried knowing that Penny wasn’t going anywhere.

When Yang turned up, they found that the ring box was by Ruby’s streaming equipment this whole time.


End file.
